The ingestion of lead, especially by young children, and the consequent lead poisoning, have been a matter of intense public concern for many years. The concern arises from the use of lead, especially lead carbonate, as a pigment. While this practice has long since ceased, old layers of lead paint remain on the walls of many buildings, especially older buildings in large metropolitan areas. These layers of old paint tend to flake off, and there has been widespread concern because of evidence that young children have ingested the resulting paint chips and dust. Measurements have shown elevated levels of lead in such children.
Various proposals have been made of techniques to deal with this issue. For example, there have been proposals to simply remove the layers of lead paint. However, this procedure is expensive, especially because of the need to protect workers engaged in the removal from lead dust. The high cost of removal is difficult to support, especially in impoverished, older neighborhoods of large metropolitan areas.
Another approach is to cover the layers of lead-pigmented paint with a permanent barrier, such as a plastic films, but this also is costly.
There have been proposals for coating the lead-pigmented paint layers with a bad-tasting substance or an emitic, to discourage ingesting the paint or cause it to be expelled if ingested. However, these proposals have not Been accepted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,840 mentions the possible use of chelating agents such as ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (CaEDTA), 2,3-dimercapto-1-propanol (BAL) and d-penicillamine as a coating on lead-pigmented paints. However, the use of these substances was discouraged because these substances were considered ineffectual and potentially harmful in some circumstances.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,191 describes the application of a coating of a lead precipitant on a layer of lead-pigmented paint. Substances mentioned include calcium sulfide, sodium diethyl dithiocarbamate, British Anti-Lewisite (BAL) (dimercaptopropanol), dimercaptosuccinic acid, dihydrothioctic acid, sodium 2,3-dimercaptopropane sulphonate, potassium methyl and ethylxanthates, sodium alginate or pectate, dithiocarbamate based ion-exchange resins, milk, sodium fluoride, sodium sulfate, sodium phosphate, sodium thiocyanate, sodium sulfide, sodium thiosulfate, sodium alkylxanthates, sodium oxalates, sodium silicate, sodium alginate and metallic salts of the dithiocarbamates of polyfunctional amines.